06 September 2012

Where does the name Ermioni come from?

Ancient Hermione was originally founded by the mythical hero Hermion and dedicated to the 'messenger' god Hermes, as Hermione means 'the one who carries the beauty of Hermes'.    

Many centuries later, during the late Mycenaen period, the town was honoured to Hermione, the only daughter of Helen and Menelaus, King of Sparta.  When Helen and Paris sailed together for Troy, Hermione was abandoned to the care of Clytemnestra, wife of Agamemnon, King of Argos and Mycenae.  Hermione, later married Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, the Greek hero of the Trojan War.  In the Iliad, Homer mentioned ancient Hermione's involvement in the Trojan War, 1260 - 1250 BC, under the command of the Argive King Diomedes, also the number of warships that sailed to Troy to bring back the beautiful Helen, Queen of Sparta.  Ancient Hermione has always been allied to Sparta.  

Over a thousand years later, the Augustan Roman geographer Strabo wrote about the town, as 'lying on the South-Eastern end of the Argolida, whereby history goes far back in time'.  Strabo also pointed out that 'it is not one of the lesser towns'.  Built and later re-built on the same site, Hermione has been inhabited since 3000 BC.


http://www.ermioni.info/place-of-interest/ermioni

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